Thread for GTFO's questions about PhD rankings and admissions

Economistb6c1

I got an PhD interview at Sloan (not job market, undergrad applying to PhD). I want to ask how many PhD students Sloan usually takes for Finance every year (on average). I know it changes every year, but is it a program say, of 2-3 people, or a program of say 5-6 people?

I am just admitted into Rochester.I know it is nowhere it used be, but could anyone tell me how good or how bad it is for PhD students? I saw some great placement from 2000-2008. But most of those with great placements were supervised by Larry Epstein, who had moved to BU.

Rochester doctoral candidate here: it's a mixed bag. The biggest downsides here are the maddening inconsistency; so many professors come and go, it's hard to predict who will be around to place you on the market.

Come here if you want to do Macro-Labor (read: Bils) or Social Choice Theory (read: Thomson), or if the ranking is clearly the best of your acceptances. There are other good profs, but those are the best for placement and who will be here in 6 years when you need them. That said, Rochester has historically placed better than comparable schools ranked in the 20-to-30 bracket.

Rochester is extremely rigorous. I remember one week when a proud prof told us that his co-author at a Top-3 school decided the homework they had given students in their parallel classes (Rochester & the Top-3) was too hard. It was indeed tough, but unlike the Top-3 kids, we were used to tough and we hadn't complained. We all finished the homework.

Living in Rochester... our bumper stickers will tell you that it's "an acquired taste".

Thanks for the information, 51c7. Can you share with me some inside information about the atmosphere in the department? Do students discuss problem sets, do faculty interact with students a lot, etc.
Thank you again.

^^^ Flew out Corbae (macro from Austin), who is rumored to have accepted.

The snow's not as bad as people will tell you. There's a lot of it, and it's cold, but it's not terrible. Rochester is actually a decent town. There's stuff to do in town (if you have a car), and upstate New York is beautiful (in the spring time).

The best placements over the past 10 years have been in micro theory, Thomson's students. Macro students place too. Those would be your only options, anyway.

Another Rochester grad student here. Everyone has their own taste, but I've been pleased with my experience. The previous poster is right about how the emphasis on junior hires and the small size of the department leave you with a small pool of potential advisors. There have been noises in the department about trying to expand to other interest areas, but it's always easier to hire high-quality faculty in fields where you're already strong.

The weather also sucks and the city isn't all that exciting, but that's not what you're going to grad school for.

The atmosphere in the department is friendly and we're taken seriously. Having a bunch of junior faculty reduces the gap between faculty and students. The department wants to see grad students do well and place well, and they work you to make sure it happens. I really think Rochester is unusually strong in terms of adding value.

Long story short, it's up to you to decide what you want out of grad school, but you can get a very good education at Rochester if you're willing to put in the work. If given the chance to choose again, I would pick Rochester over comparably ranked schools.

I heard that Rochester conditions a stipend on your performance to create incentive. If you underperform they reduce your stipend after the first and second year. Has anyone heard of any other program that does it?